XOLO A500 Club review – a better version of A500S

The XOLO A500 Club is an exact replica for the XOLO A500S model, except for the design part and some internal changes (the SIM slot location). The hardware is the same but looks wise the A500 Club is more appealing. This dual SIM handset is powered by dual core processor and is priced at under Rs. 7,000.

The A500S is also a dual SIM handset with normal SIM slots. The XOLO A500 Club on the other hand houses a normal SIM slot 1 and a micro SIM slot 2. The position of SIM slots / micro SD card slot is a bit different on the Club version.

A500 Club Box Pack
The box pack contains the handset, free screen guard, XOLO Quick Start guide, warranty information, travel charger, data cable, earphone and 1400 mAh battery.

Design and Display
The handset looks different as compared with the XOLO A500S. Build quality is very good and there are dual speakers – one at the bottom and other on the top. There are 3 touch sensitive buttons on the front bottom that do not light up.

Volume rockers are placed on the left, power button on the right, 3.55mm audio jack and the micro USB port on the top. This is a dual SIM handset with SIM A (micro SIM) and SIM B (normal SIM). There is micro SD card slot too.  Handset weight with battery is 121 grams and dimensions are 61.79 x 124.40 x 9.59mm

The screen is 4 inches with 800 x 480 pixels resolution. Its OGS IPS screen, touch is smooth. Viewing angles are good. There are 3 sensors light, accelerometer and proximity sensors. There is no LED notification and OTG does not work.

Memory, OS and Storage
XOLO A500 Club runs on android 4.2.2 with 512MB RAM, 4GB storage and micro SD card support of 32GB. Of the 4GB storage 1.0GB is available as phone storage and 1.5GB as storage for apps. You can install apps on the external storage.

The default user interface is different and it will be bit difficult getting used to. There are no menu buttons but when you drag though the screen you will find the apps listed there. Thankfully you can change the theme and get back the traditional android navigation. The settings-> app has also been modified and it does not show the free space for apps or the free RAM.

There are some themes that you can choose from. Check the video review. I tried a new theme it was with very good transition effect and interestingly it worked without any lags.

Performance
The handset is well known its MT6572 MediaTek dual core clocked at 1.4GHz (cortex A7) with Mali 400 MP GPU.

Benchmark comparison with XOLO A500, XOLO A500S and the A500 Club.

Camera
There is a 5MP rear fixed focus camera and a VGA front camera. The camera quality is about the same as seen on the A500 and A500S. Still shots are okay – not that great. The 720p video recording is also okay and not that sharp – also because of the auto focus feature is missing.

Gaming
I installed the MC4 and the Asphalt 8 on the external storage. The Modern Combat 4 is playable but you can feel it lagging. The Asphalt 8 in very low graphics mode worked really well.

Others
I did not find any issues with 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The first GPS lock was under 50 seconds. Sound is loud and clear.  There is a popup video app too and as already mentioned the OS is heavily customized.

Battery
This handset is with a 1400 mAh battery. I used the handset for about 40 minutes the battery dropped by 23% and when playing high end games for about 14 minutes the battery dropped by 5%.

You can expect a better backup of 3 to 5 hours with continuous heavy usage.

Verdict
The handset specifications are similar to the XOLO A500S. It makes sense to go for the XOLO A500 Club. The benchmark scores are also a little better as compared with its predecessors. A good buy for consumers with limited budget for under Rs. 7000.

Image Gallery

Sample Images

XOLO A500 Club handset and gaming review

720p video shot using the A500 Club handset

[poll id=”137″]